Using OpenColorIO

May 2024 · 2 minute read
Using OpenColorIO

In addition to 32-bit editing support, Affinity Designer also implements OpenColorIO; a colour management system that provides a full colour managed workflow. It is predominantly used for motion picture production but can be used for any situation where accurate end-to-end colour management is required.

Setting up OpenColorIO

By default, Designer's OpenColorIO features are not immediately usable. An .ocio configuration file is required alongside a number of supporting files such as lookup tables.

The OpenColorIO website (http://www.opencolorio.org) contains some sample configurations that provide a number of suitable input and output profiles, including several Academy Colour (ACES) configurations.

To configure OpenColorIO:
  • Download and extract your chosen OpenColorIO configuration to a folder.
  • From the Affinity Designer menu, select Preferences.
  • From the Edit menu, select Preferences.
  • On the Colour tab, under OpenColorIO Configuration File, choose Select and navigate to the extracted directory. Choose the .ocio configuration file.
  • Under OpenColorIO Search Folder, click Select and choose the extracted directory (it should already be the current highlighted directory from when the .ocio configuration file was selected).
  • You will be prompted to restart the app, which is necessary for the OpenColorIO settings to take effect.
  • Using OpenColorIO

    OpenColorIO is exposed through two methods:

    When loading OpenEXR documents, Designer always converts from the source colour space to scene_linear. With a valid OpenColorIO configuration, Designer will also present a message to let you know which colour profile it has converted from. This is usually determined by a filename affix, for example "render_acescg.exr".

    SEE ALSO:

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